Gig Review | sixpeace @ Box, Glasgow | 10.12.2022

It’s been an outstanding debut year for sixpeace, after the release of their first single ‘At Your Side’ in January. They’ve played sold out shows with acts such as Joshua Grant and toured with Canadian jangle-pop duo Ducks Ltd. Further to this, they had their own packed headline gig at the legendary King Tut’s during the Summer Nights event, as well as releasing their first EP. When they announced that they were doing a free end of year show at Glasgow’s Box bar, I knew it was an absolute must see. And trust me, they really made it worth it (as one of their songs would say) to attend!

The set list was comprised of their already released material from their EP ‘Try to Understand This‘, some songs that will be on their sophomore EP (the name of which is still somewhat a secret!) and songs they plan to have on what will be their debut LP in a few years. There was definitely a festive atmospheric in the air, between several band members wearing fun accessories (the most notable of each was lead guitarist Kye O’ Hagan donning a banana suit at one point!), the decorations in the bar, and at one point an audience member handed co-frontperson Adel Ward some sparkly silver tinsel, which they then wrapped around their microphone for a few songs.

The crowd interaction felt so special because of the venue’s intimacy, and if you’ve ever been to a sixpeace gig, you will know there is nothing quite like screaming “f**k off Allan!” at the start of ‘At Your Side’ (a reference to bassist Allan Hughes, for anyone unfamiliar). It was remarkable how many people in the audience were able to sing back all the words to almost every song despite only 3 of the setlist being on spotify, and some songs that especially stood out for me were ‘Modern TV‘ and ‘Better Days‘, as well as the first ever performance of ‘Up Again‘ – a lively, catchy tune about about coming out of a rough patch that will stick in your head for DAYS (weeks, in my case!). I also loved the slight changes they made to ‘See Before You Go’ for this performance with a longer intro ; it’s one of my favourite songs of this year and it made it even more fun to hear it live again.

All that said, my personal highlight of any night seeing this band always comes during ‘Perfect Fit’, a song that is already an all time favourite due to its incredible guitar riff and drums, as well as the beautiful lyrics about being ready to start enjoying life again but needing some help to do that. They won’t release it until 2024 or 2025 as they are saving it for their afofementioned album, so if you get the chance, definitely come see them before then so you get to hear it sooner. I’ll be the one crying in the corner about just how much I love it.

Next year promises to be just as exciting for this indie six-piece, with the release of their second EP slated for some point in the summer, and gigs at venues such as SWG3 already booked too.